First steps: Health and social care professionals beginning to address the palliative and end of life care needs of people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations in Lebanon

Chidiac, Claude (2022) First steps: Health and social care professionals beginning to address the palliative and end of life care needs of people with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations in Lebanon. Sexualities, 25 (1-2). pp. 157-163. ISSN 1363-4607

Abstract

The available evidence demonstrates that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people face challenges when accessing palliative care services, and receive suboptimal care at the end of life. This is mainly attributed to assumed heterosexuality, lack of knowledge and understanding of LGBT issues and specific healthcare needs, discrimination, homophobia, and transphobia. In Lebanon, legal and institutional support for LGBT individuals is minimal, and palliative care provision remains scarce and fragmented. This compounds the impact of social stigma and marginalisation, and results in unrecognised palliative and end of life care needs for the LGBT individual. This short commentary discusses the development of an LGBT palliative care workshop in Lebanon, which was the first initiative of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It also explores how this initiative has led to further developments, and how these efforts can be replicated in other countries in the MENA region.